234 DISEASES OF THE TEETH, ETC, 



au incisor or a molar, has lost its opponent, and thereby 

 becomes deprived of all counter-pressure, it shoots beyond 

 its fellows in the same jaw, and is apt to grow to such a 

 length as not only to interrupt mastication, but even impede 

 the closure of the jaws. Mr. H. Surmon relates — in vol. ii 

 of ' The Veterinarian ^ — a very instructive case of this 

 description. 



'^A neighbour of his possessed a horse that had continued 

 to lose his appetite and condition for some weeks. The first 

 time Mr. Surmon examined the mouth he perceived nothing 

 extraordinary. The horse, emaciated to a skeleton, was to be 

 destroyed. Mr. Surmon examined his mouth once more, and, 

 with a balling-iron keeping it open, he introduced his hand, 

 and discovered two lower teeth, one on each side, which had 

 outgrown the others to that extent that they were actually 

 pressing against the roof of the mouth. Mr. Surmon made 

 attempts to extract them with a key, such as is used by sur- 

 geons ; but these proved fruitless. He 

 ^j afterwards contrived an instrument, 

 j^r (which is here represented) with which 

 ^^ he perfectly succeeded. In using it, he 



^ passed the forked end into the mouth, 



^^^iidr ^^^ ^'^^^ ^^^^ tooth to be extracted 



^^^^^ within the fork. The handle — a most 



powerful lever — being then turned on 

 its axis, the tooth became forced out with the greatest ease. 

 The horse Mr. Surmon operated on, began after the operation 

 to feed again, and rapidly recovered his health and strength, 

 and went to work as well as ever. 



This instrument, however, after all, amounts in operation 

 to nothing beyond the ordinary tooth-key, upon a magnified 

 scale, and is in many respects not so efficient, in conse- 

 quence of its wanting the adjusting and grasping powers of 

 the key. Mr. Cherry, the Principal Veterinary Surgeon to 

 the Cavalry, is in the habit of using a key of such large 

 dimensions that the handle is intended to be turned by both 

 hands of the operator, thus affording him a lever-extractor 

 of highly augmented power. 



